Grabbing hold of peaceful moments

My oh my!  The days leading up to a major move are not for the weak of heart or spirit. There is so much to do and so much to think about.  Have we canceled the cable / phone / trash ... ?  Have we figured where our mail is going and put in a forwarding order?  Did we pick up the last drop off of dry cleaning? Are we SURE the airlines know about the peanut allergy?  How do we get our prescriptions filled now for 6 months? Did I write down and distribute contact information to everyone taking care of our house? These are just a very few of the many things on our "to do" lists. I am so stressed that I am forgetting simple words during conversation.  

This morning I gave myself the BEST gift. I woke before the rest of my crew, got comfortable in "my" spot and meditated.  Ahhhhhh.  I can breath easy again.

Now for a day of finishing up dogie paperwork, having blood drawn, talking to pharmacists, and coordinating last minute good-byes...  all done with a three-year old who would rather be playing "pirates" in tow.  It's very doable and much easier now that I can breath again.

The Travel Nitty Gritty

The tickets are bought and we are counting down the days until we leave – not many left at all! Our travel plans are not ideal but we hope they will work. Dave leaves first with the dogs. He has a 34 hour travel time from our home to Accra with two lay-overs. Yep, you read that correctly, he leaves at 4 AM and arrives the following day at 8 PM. (once you account for the 6 hour time difference, it makes 34 hours). Don’t worry; the dogs won’t be crated for that entire time. They get are booked for luxury stays at 2 doggie airport hotels along the way.

Once Dave and the dogs are there and cleared through customs, they will spend the night in the big city before taking a 6 – 8 hour jungle drive to Bogoso. The dogs do not have to be quarantined when we arrive there or when we fly home.

Upgraded bliss on our flight to CA last month

Meanwhile, Joshua and I will hang out here with our family and enjoy Colorado for another week. When we travel we’ll have a mere 19 hour travel day and one lay-over. Dave will come back to Accra to met out plane. Then we’ll have a major shopping extravaganza before heading into the jungle.

One of the fabulous things about traveling to this wildly foreign place (to us) with his current company is we have a lot of insider information about where to shop and what to buy. We even know who to ask to help watch the dogs in our Bogoso home while Dave travels to pick us up. We don’t have to navigate the world alone. Hooray!

Joshua and his cousin enjoying some good ol' Colorado fun!

Good Journeys!

What a glorious send off weekend!  First Pastor Justin and the entire Columbine United Church blessed us with an official sending off prayer during Sunday's service. God was certainly present!  After, we spent a fun afternoon of play with Joshua's sweethearts - the Doyle girls.  Then the absolutely best cherry on top EVER was the party given to us by our family and friends!  Thank you just doesn't seem enough to express our gratitude for the hours and hours of hard work that was put into the event by the Slifka family, my folks and Ann Smith-Blaise.  Plus the pure love and joy of all who participated either up close or in spirit was very tangible and indescribably special.  Below is a singing tribute put together (Thanks Dave Hicks!) and performed by some of our friends.

Now for a bit of business...  We think we have a feasible solution for the dogs but it is too many legs for little man and I to tackle so we will probably be flying separate from Daddy.  The good news is, Joshua is an excellent traveler (knock on wood). We may even let Dave go a week or two prior to us so he can get the dogs settled. More to come as the details come together.

On another note, we received a report on our shipment today and it is due in country on 8/5/12.

Dog Days

One of the most challenging parts of our move is taking the dogs with us.  We have two doggie children and it's hard to even think of living 2 years without them, so we won't.

 Jeremiah, 5 year old Golden Retriever

Tate, 2 1/2 year old Retriever mix

 Instead we have researched exactly what it will take to keep them with us and been extremely proactive in making it happen.  We've done extra blood work, have all their shots in order, had extra dental work done on one dog as a preventative measure, shipped American dog food in our crate and researched the best strategy for home-made dog food. Dave even met with the Ghanaian veterinarians the last time he was there to make sure our paperwork is correct. We get an A+ for effort.  

Unfortunately, the airlines are creating HAVOC on our lives.  We are really struggling to figure out an affordable way to fly them to Accra.  First, our airline of choice canceled all flights from the US to Ghana.  Then, our second choice airline just this week has stopped allowing dogs on the type of aircraft they fly into Accra.  The next airline said sure until we actually tried to purchase the tickets yesterday afternoon, then they said their partner airline (that actually flies into Ghana) won't take dogs. We're currently stuck.  Hopefully Monday will bring good news or we will look into using a world-wide pet relocation service.  They aren't cheap but we might have to change our mindset and go for it.

Time Away

We took a break from packing and stressing over our move for some much needed family time.  We started our trip with a wonderful visit with the California Moragues clan.  A fantastic time was had by all, especially the cousins.  Joshua and Anthony played together very, very well this trip and Karin planned super fun activities. We look forward to seeing them all on Skype and hopefully for a Colorado ski trip this winter.

Next stop was Alaska to celebrate my parents' 45th anniversary.  We went on a 7-night Disney Cruise and it was beyond amazing.  If you have kids and don't mind parting with a chunk of change - you must go on a Disney Cruise.  Joshua was treated like royalty by all the staff on board (everyone seemed to know his name).  They had great kids programming, a lot of time with the Disney characters, and truly great shows in the evenings.

Oh - and Alaska was pretty cool too!  (cool - ha ha - cool)  It was cold and breathtakingly beautiful.  The day cruising past seals and bald eagles as we went through the glaciers at Tracy's Arm was incredibly grand and serene. We had a blast whale watching and stopped for a very fancy Father's Day and Anniversary dinner in Victoria, Canada.

I haven't downloaded the pictures from our camera yet, so I don't have any of the CA trip or the shore excursions to share.  Here are a few pictures of my family.

 Mom and Dad

 Joshua and his favorite Character, Dopey

 Our family (plus Chip and Dale)

Pack Day

Pack day is officially over and while I am overwhelmed by the sheer amount of STUFF we decided to take, I am pretty sure we'll be happy to have it once we're in Africa. If we don't use it, we'll give it away.

Our garage before

Our garage after

It should take 10 - 12 weeks for our shipment to make it to Bogoso. From our driveway, it was taken to the Denver warehouse where it was loaded into a crate. The crate will be trucked to Houston where is will be placed on a ship. The ship will cross the ocean and land up in either Accra or Takordia. There, Ghanian customs will inspect the crate and assess import duties. Once it's all approved and paid for, the shipment will make it's way through the rain forrest to our African home.

Our new vehicle

I never thought I would drive a golf cart much less own one, and yet guess what arrived today?

 

 

Once we hit African soil, this baby will be my main form of transportation. Actually I should say once the golf cart hits African soil, clears customs, we pay the outrageously expensive duties and it makes the trek to Bogoso, it is what I will be driving. That process should take about 12 weeks from the time it leaves our CO home on Tuesday. Dave will be assigned a company car but I won't be allowed to drive it because of insurance policies.  Since the housing community is large and Dave felt stranded without transport most times when there on business, we are opting to take something along.

 

When Joshua and I need to go into the village or travel to another destination in Ghana, a driver will take us in one of the company vehicles.  Dave will probably also be driven until he feels comfortable with the vastly different driving conditions and knows his way to his destination.  I doubt he will ever actually drive in the larger cities, but we shall see. He got his international drivers licence this week.